All that glitters is not always gold!

WALKING THE DOG
A woman was flying from Seattle to San Francisco .. Unexpectedly, the plane was diverted to Sacramento along the way. The flight attendant explained that there would be a delay, and if the passengers wanted to get off the aircraft the plane would re-board in 50 minutes.

Everybody got off the plane except one lady who was blind. The man had noticed her as he walked by and could tell the lady was blind because her seeing-eye dog lay quietly underneath the seats in front of her throughout the entire flight

He could also tell she had flown this very flight before because the pilot approached her, and calling her by name, said, 'Kathy, we are in Sacramento for almost an hour. Would you like to get off and stretch your legs?'
The blind lady said, 'No thanks, but maybe Buddy would like to stretch his legs.'

Picture this:

All the people in the gate area came to a complete standstill when they looked up and saw the pilot walk off the plane with a seeing-eye dog! The pilot was even wearing sunglasses. People scattered. They not only tried to change planes, but they were trying to change airlines!

True story... Have a great day and remember....

.THINGS AREN'T ALWAYS AS THEY APPEAR
A DAY WITHOUT LAUGHTER IS A DAY WASTED!!!

Slow Learners!

So what have we learned in 2,063 years ?

"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury
should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the
arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled,
and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest
Rome become bankrupt.. People must again learn to work,
instead of living on public assistance."
- Cicero - 55 BC
Evidently, nothing.

Marie F. Baron....the best Manager ever!

Marie E. Baron,
My Real Estate manager for over 15 years at: Miller-Bishop Realty, HGM Miller Bishop Realty, and Realty One Realty, Brunswick.

The kindest, most generous woman I ever met. God loved Marie, and so did we!
She fought a good fight with cancer, but even fighters have to rest!

March 27th, 2009
Marie E. Baron (nee Radschuk), 67, passed away Wednesday, March 25, 2009, at University Hospital with her loving family at her side. Marie was a retired manager with Bishop Realty and Realty One. She was born in Cleveland on Sept. 27, 1941.

She enjoyed traveling, boating and fishing with her family. She was loved by many and will be missed by all.

She was the beloved wife for 48 years of Stanley; loving mother of Michelle Hageman (Kent) and James Baron (Alina); and cherished grandmother of Alex, Michael and Jackie.
She was the dearest daughter, of Hugh and Stella (nee Zane) Radschuk, and sister of Robert Radschuk.

The family will receive friends Monday, from 2 to 4 and 6 to 9 p.m. at A. Ripepi & Sons Funeral Home, 18149 Bagley Road, Middleburg Heights (West of Interstate 71).

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held Tuesday, March 31, 2009, St. Joseph Church, 12700 Pearl Road, at 10 a.m. Interment will be at Holy Cross Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers the family suggests contributions to Lymphoma and Leukemia Society, 23297 Commerce Park, Cleveland, 44122.

Husbands...you can't live with 'em, you can't live without 'em!

..if they would just listen to us, and then do what we tell them to do! At least as far as their health is concerned.

You all may not have this problem, but I sure as heck do!

Yesterday a.m. was spent with the Dr.'s office examining my husband and writing a prescription for a 875 mg dosage of amoxicillin for a suspected strep infection. "You have pockets of pus in your throat that I can see just looking into your mouth" says the Dr. My husband has been flat out sick for a week, and so sick that he was not able to even swallow a glass of water!

"Stop the truck, go into a truck stop and ask where the nearest hospital emergency room or urgicare clinic is" said I. "Okay" said he. "but where will I park"? Duhhhhh!

Did he? No, of course not. That would have meant he would be derelict in his duty to provide for his family, or not be macho, or whatever else goes through their brains. So instead, he lay in the bunk of the Semi-Truck in agony, not even able to eat or drink for two days. Then after delivering his freight at two separate stops in North Carolina, headed home in the early afternoon, arriving home at 12:30 a.m. Tuesday morning. "Shall I call the Dr's. office to see if they can get you in today"? "I don't care" sez he!

I surely wish he would subscribe to the theory to "do it my way". It's much easier to do it my way than it is to tell me no! He's hearing about it now. From the Doctor, from his children, and he sure as heck is hearing it from me!

Venting.....such a wonderful therapy!

Girlfriends....not better than sex, but right up there!

Yesterday I made an impromtu trip to Dublin, Ohio with my friend Karen O'Donnell. Karen was on her way to "SteinMart" to try on clothing to wear as a model in a Women's Council of Realtors Fashion Show in Columbus.

She is the current Ohio State President of this organization and therefore is the "honored" guest of choice for the 10 chapters in the State.

"Sure, I'll ride along with you" says I. Karen and I have enjoyed many a shopping trip in the few years that we have served together on council and committee chores.

A girl's got to do what a girl's got to do!"No, not that one try this one". For two hours we dashed back and forth through Steinmart picking out ensembles and outfits. Supposedly evening wear since Karen would be escorted by the tuxedoed President of the Land Title Association for the State.

Karen is barely elbow high on me (or at least it seems so, anyway, she is pretty petite). It was like picking out doll clothes for me. What fun. We even got to pick out matching jewelry! Yea!

"Need shoes to go with that outfit" "No sez she" "I've got plenty at home to choose from".

I hope to shout in your lunchbox she does. In all of our travels across the state and the country, we have made it a point of buying at least one pair of shoes as a souvenier momento of our trip.

In one such trip to Toledo, after the luncheon meeting we shot over to Perrysburg to the mall and made a power shop through a shoe store. I found a great pair of "Clarks" mules.

Karen on the other hand found (size 6) 14 pairs of shoes, all on sale, and all waiting to be exported to Mayfield Heights!

You go girl!

Back to the Future!

I've sure gotten old!

I've had two bypass surgeries,

a hip replacement, new knees,

diabetes

I'm half blind,

can't hear anything quieter than a jet engine,

take 40 different medications that make me

dizzy, winded, and subject to blackouts.

Have bouts with dementia.

Have poor circulation;

hardly feel my hands and feet anymore.

Can't remember if I'm 85 or 92.

Have lost all my friends.

But, thank God,

I still have my driver's license

A "Sunday" kind of posting...

WEATHER REPORT~BJ Gallagher
"Any day I'm vertical is a good day"...that's what I always say.
If you ask me,"How are you?"
I'll answer, "GREAT!" because in saying so, I make it so.

When Life gives me dark clouds and rain, I appreciate the moisture that brings a soft curl to my hair.

When Life gives me sunshine, I gratefully turn my face up to feel its warmth on my cheeks.

When Life brings fog, I hug my sweater around me and give thanks for the cool shroud of mystery that makes the familiar seem different and intriguing.

When Life brings snow, I dash outside to catch the first flakes on my tongue, relishing the icy miracle that is a snowflake.

Life's events and experiences are like the weather - they come and go, no matter what my preference.

So, what the heck?!I might as well decide to enjoy them.

For indeed, there IS a time for every purpose under Heaven.

And each season brings its own unique blessings.

..when the red red robin, comes bob, bob, bobbin' along!

My friend Jo Ann wrote about the first day of spring being less than disappointngly spring like and about not seeing any robins.

Well, here in Valley City, they are bobbin' along everywhere. My spirits are finally up after the last weekend, and I am so looking forward to Easter.

This year it is arriving early, but I am going to be prepared this time. No last minute baking and hiding eggs, and getting the decorations out. I am going to be ahead of the game.

I have all the ingredients for making pierogie's (Polish Dumplings) that my Grandma used to make. Her recipe for dough is outstanding, and I have witnesses to attest to that fact. I am actually going to make some today. The list of "gift recipients" is getting longer. I have requests for Potato, Potato Cheese, Saurkraut, Spinach/Artichoke, and some fruit fillings.

So folks (you know who you are) get your requests in early!

P.S. I am grinding walnuts for homemade nut rolls, and some poppy seed as well!

....she sang

Yesterday I attended the funeral mass for Logan Boyd. A more moving and beautiful yet bittersweet service I have never seen. The eulogy delivered by the priest was beautiful. This priest visited Logan every day and gave him communion and read to Logan from the Bible.

The recessional hymn was so lovely. Especially since his mother, Michelle, placed her hand upon the casket containing the body of her son, and sang every word as she walked him down the aisle:

On Eagle's Wings


Refrain:
And He will raise you up on Eagle's wings,
Bear you on the breath of dawn,
Make you to shine like the sun,
And hold you in the palm of His hand.

For to His angels He's given a command
To guard you in all of your ways-,
Upon their hands they will bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.

Isaiah 40:31"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength;they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run,and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint."

May you have eternal rest and peace Logan.

A quote from "Simple Truths"...

In the faint light of the attic, an old man, tall and stooped, bent his great frame and made his way to a stack of boxes that sat near one of the little half-windows. Brushing aside a wisp of cobwebs, he tilted the top box toward the light and began to carefully lift out one old photograph album after another. Eyes once bright but now dim searched longingly for the source that had drawn him here.

It began with the fond recollection of the love of his life, long gone, and somewhere in these albums was a photo of her he hoped to rediscover. Silent as a mouse, he patiently opened the long buried treasures and soon was lost in a sea of memories. Although his world had not stopped spinning when his wife left it, the past was more alive in his heart than his present aloneness.

Setting aside one of the dusty albums, he pulled from the box what appeared to be a journal from his grown son’s childhood. He could not recall ever having seen it before, or that his son had ever kept a journal. Why did Elizabeth always save the children’s old junk? he wondered, shaking his white head.

Opening the yellowed pages, he glanced over a short reading, and his lips curved in an unconscious smile. Even his eyes brightened as he read the words that spoke clear and sweet to his soul. It was the voice of the little boy who had grown up far too fast in this very house, and whose voice had grown fainter and fainter over the years. In the utter silence of the attic, the words of a guileless six-year-old worked their magic and carried the old man back to a time almost totally forgotten.

Entry after entry stirred a sentimental hunger in his heart like the longing a gardener feels in the winter for the fragrance of spring flowers. But it was accompanied by the painful memory that his son’s simple recollections of those days were far different from his own. But how different?

Reminded that he had kept a daily journal of his business activities over the years, he closed his son’s journal and turned to leave, having forgotten the cherished photo that originally triggered his search. Hunched over to keep from bumping his head on the rafters, the old man stepped to the wooden stairway and made his descent, then headed down a carpeted stairway that led to the den.

Opening a glass cabinet door, he reached in and pulled out an old business journal. Turning, he sat down at his desk and placed the two journals beside each other. His was leather-bound and engraved neatly with his name in gold, while his son’s was tattered and the name “Jimmy” had been nearly scuffed from its surface. He ran a long skinny finger over the letters, as though he could restore what had been worn away with time and use.

As he opened his journal, the old man’s eyes fell upon an inscription that stood out because it was so brief in comparison to other days. In his own neat handwriting were these words:

Wasted the whole day fishing with Jimmy. Didn’t catch a thing.

With a deep sigh and a shaking hand, he took Jimmy’s journal and found the boy’s entry for the same day, June 4. Large scrawling letters, pressed deeply into the paper, read:

Went fishing with my dad. Best day of my life.

Every time a bell rings....

I did not know Logan Boyd. I know his Mother Michele Boyd, and his Grandmother, Darlene Kovack, brokers of Prudential Kovack Realty in Medina and Wadsowth, Ohio. Both Michele and Darlene are long time members of the Medina Chapter of the Women's Council of Realtors.

Logan was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in 2005 at age 14.

This is a few words posted on "a caring bridge.org" by his mother Michele.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2009 10:25 PM, CDT
Dear Friends,
It is with deep sadness that I tell you Logan earned his angel wings today. The wonderful people at Children's Hospital worked like they were possessed to get us home yesterday. Logan passed away peacefully, at home, this afternoon. He fought the good fight, and outsmarted this disease longer than anyone thought he could, but even warriors need to rest. Logan was always upbeat and positive about whatever treatment we were doing, even if it meant eating macrobiotic sludge or inhaling scopion venon along with his chemo. We are immensely grateful for the 3 1/2 years we've had since he was diagnosed. It's been amazing, because Logan was amazing! The Carlson Funeral Home in Medina is handling the arrangements. I think calling hours will be Friday night with the Funeral at Prince of Peace Church in Barberton on Saturday. If you are so inclined, you can make a donation to the Akron Children's Hospital Showers' Family Clinic in Logan's name to help other kids battling this disease. Thanks for all your love and support! We have the best friends and family in the world!
xoxo
Michele and Craig
Proud Parents of Angel Logan

Something that I read this morning that hit home!

Inspire Personal Accountability: Excerpt from Change is Good...You Go First

By Mac Anderson and Tom Feltenstein

Something magical happens when we accept personal responsibility for our behavior and our results. But, it's not easy, because it's human nature to "pass the buck". Blaming others, blaming the economy, blaming this, blaming that! But as I've gotten older (and a little wiser) when things go wrong in my business, or my life, I can always find the culprit...in the mirror.

In every instance, it always comes back to choices I've made in my life that put me exactly where I am today. I have to say, that this one "tweak" in my attitude may sound like a little thing, but it has made a big difference in my life.

The most important words of personal responsibility are as follows:

The 10 most important words: I won't wait for others to take the first step.

The 9 most important words: If it is to be, it's up to me.

The 8 most important words: If not me, who? If not now, when?

The 7 most important words: Let me take a shot at it.

The 6 most important words: I will not pass the buck.

The 5 most important words: You can count on me.

The 4 most important words: It IS my job!

The 3 most important words: Just do it!

The 2 most important words: I will.

The most important word: Me

A Marriage made in Heaven!

Subject: Jacob and Rebecca

Jacob, age 92, and Rebecca, age 89, living in Florida, are all excited about their decision to get married. They go for a stroll to discuss the wedding, and on the way they pass a CVS/Pharmacy. Jacob suggests they go in. Jacob addresses the man behind the counter: "Are you the Pharmacist? ' The pharmacist answers, "Yes.' '

Jacob: "We're about to get married. Do you sell heart medication?"

Pharmacist: 'Of course we do.'

Jacob: 'How about medicine for circulation?'

Pharmacist: 'All kinds.'

Jacob: 'Medicine for rheumatism and scoliosis?'

Pharmacist: "Definitely."

Jacob: "How about Viagra?"

Pharmacist: 'Of course.'

Jacob: 'Medicine for memory problems, arthritis, jaundice?'

Pharmacist: 'Yes, a large variety. The works.'

Jacob: 'What about vitamins, sleeping pills, Geritol, antidotes for Parkinson's disease?' Pharmacist: 'Absolutely.'

Jacob: ' You sell wheelchairs and walkers?'

Pharmacist: 'All speeds and sizes.'

Jacob: 'We'd like to use this store as our Bridal Registry.'

I'm getting a new car, I'm getting a car, I'm ge

I am so excited! I am getting a new car! Just like the one pictured, and the same color!

My lease is up on the red one, and now I am getting a silver/pewter one!

Yea! Yea! Yea! Three hours of sheer agony with the salesman (my husband, not me).

My Car Salesman is my son's father-in-law.

I like the car, Tim wanted me to buy American. This car was made in Tenn. and assembled in Miss. Not much more American than that. Everything we buy is made in China, or so it seems, at least clothing seems to be along with everything I pick up at Wal-Mart. because we can't buy something that is made in Vietnam, like most clothes on the rack today. Tim is still too sensitive to the time he served there.

So, I am helping my son's relationships, keeping the money in the family, helping folks in Tennessee and Mississippi, so what was his problem???

stimulate, stimulus, stimulie

The Stimulus Package seems very complext to me.

I am not a deep thinker, nor am I politically intuitive.

I vote, I participate, I read, but I am not really into the "bowels" of what is going on with the "bailout".

I find it incredible that there is no, or little accountability for

the banks that receive the bailout. I find it incredible that we

as Americans are expected to be gullible enough to swallow the whole concept, and I find it incredibly irreverent that we are expected to believe that "Change" is coming.

The only change I see is the change in my pocket, where dollars used to be!

The verdict is in!

The "eyes" have it! I can't believe my good fortune!

My eye exam went very well last night. 1-1/2 hours of intense

scrutiny by Dr. Norma Jessee (She was one of my young "Horse"

4-H kids long ago) and she was amazed at my resiliance, and my

condition.

She pronounced me in great shape, only have to use the antibiotic drops and the steroid drops for another three weeks, and lo and behold,

my vision in the eye that was done is.......20/20!

I am so pleased. I almost wish the other one was ready to go!

I have to continue to not move "quickly", or not lift too much, and not bend over quickly (something about viscous (sp?) moving around and things that I'd rather not think about, too visual for me, and then come back in three weeks for the final verdict.

I am so excited I can't stand it! You have no idea how bright the world looks to me today!

Thank you Dr. Chi, and thank you medical miracles for this wonderful gift!

What a difference a week makes!

Hey everyone. I am back in the barn and cleaning stalls, and spreading manure, and jumping the battery in the tractor, and scrubbing buckets, and clipping horses and happy to be able to do something physical.

My house looks like goats have moved in, but I am happy. I go get another eye exam tonight, and I am looking forward to having surgery on the other eye.

I didn't know my windows were dirty!!!!!!!!!

Thought the neighbor didn't know how to use bleach with her whites!

One "Flu" over the cuckoo's nest!

The flu can't keep me down when worry keeps me up: Minister of Culture
by Michael Heaton/Plain Dealer Minister of Culture
Thursday February 26, 2009, 12:00 AM

MINISTER OF CULTURE
Monday morning, I woke up sick as a pike. Fever, chills, lungs on fire, achy, shaky and full of foul, gelatinous bile. I was a mess. I pulled the covers over my head and was determined to go deep into hibernation until the literal ill wind blew over.
My wife doesn't go in for that game plan. She says that when she is sick she still has to take care of the kids. She muscles through. She wills herself well. Or well enough. And expects me to do the same.

But I'm a big baby when I get sick. After 17 years of marriage, I'm less of a baby. Her theory works. But not on this morning. I told her I was going back to sleep until the physical tsunami passed or ebbed.

I grabbed a bottle of cherry-flavored Theraflu and took a couple of big slugs. Then I burrowed back into the bed, still shaking and quaking. I quickly fell into a comalike state. Then there was a poking on my shoulder.
It was Mayor Frank Jackson. "Mike," he said. "The city is in trouble. We need everyone to pull together. This is no time for sleeping."
I told him I was sick. Then faded.

The next thing I saw was a reporter from Channel 19 at my bed. She asked me if my illness had kept me from boarding the plane that had recently crashed.
"What are you talking about?" I said before passing out.
Then I heard this pounding, this drumming that woke me back up. It was LeBron James dribbling a basketball in my bedroom. He gave me that intense stare.
"Rise up, man," he said. He wanted me to do that leaping chest bump thing with him.
I told him I was under the weather. He didn't seem to get it.

The next time I came to, my eyes began to focus on a guy with eyebrows like steel-wool wings. It was Andy Rooney from "60 Minutes."
"The thing about sleep is that everyone sleeps. But nobody ever talks about sleeping," he said.
I said, "Dude, you're putting me to sleep right now."
When I opened my eyes again, there was Nadya Suleman and her 14 children tearing up my bedroom. They were in my sock and underwear drawers tossing everything everywhere. Total chaos. Just before I faded out again, I remember saying, "Nice lips."

Then there was Mickey Rourke crying about his dog Loki who died and about not winning the Oscar. I held his hand. I tried to give comfort. But he was all busted up. Inconsolable.
By this time, I wasn't at all surprised to see President Barack Obama at my bedside.
"How will we achieve real and meaningful change if people continue to sleep through this national crisis? You need some stimulus bad."
I asked him for a cigarette. He made a motion for his breast pocket and then caught himself.
We both laughed.

I thought it was all over when suddenly I was bathed in the White Light. It was Jesus, all aflame in His glory, arms spread out, floating above my bed, beckoning me.
"Rise up, my son," he said.
I told him that was LeBron's line.
"Who?" he asked.

I got up out of bed and headed for the shower. My wife looked surprised and asked me if I was going to work after all.

"Who can get any rest around here?" I asked. "It's like Grand Central Station."

Give me my &*#@$% Senior Discount!

I have a friend who recently made a purchase at a store that she does not frequent very often. Upon folding the receipt/invoice to place in her purse she noticed that the clerk had given her a "senior discount"! My friend was upset. She neither asked for it, or expected it.



She thought as she surveyed the clerk's heavy makeup and did not say "Do your friends from High School Still Call you Pizza Face"!



I was really rattled when I read this account. Not only was I rattled, but I was good and pee ohhed! Not a very Christian thought nor a ladylike one either.



Thank God, I can get the discount without asking (which is sometimes embarressing while you stand at the cash register with a myriad of folks standing patiently, or not so patiently in line.)

I'm 66 and proud of it! Yes, I look 65 I know, but I am grateful for each and every line, wrinkle, sag and bag. I have lived a lot of life, and look forward to living a lot more.



Perhaps my friend just was having a bad day. Perhaps not, but I shall give her the benefit of the doubt anyway; she is a baby boomer, but a little younger than me. Maybe we need to have a skin peel, or a facial, or maybe, we just need to do our best and be gracious about the whole age thing!



Thanks for not asking and giving me the discount anyway.

In these times, I'll take what I can get!